Crass - The Feeding Of The Five Thousand

Original Release Date

1978

Release Information

UK 12" 1978 (Small Wonder - WEENY 2)

1 The Sound Of Free Speech 2:05
2 Do They Owe Us A Living? 1:24
3 End Result 2:04
4 They've Got A Bomb 3:48
5 Punk Is Dead 1:48
6 Reject Of Society 1:07
7 General Bacardi 1:01
8 Banned From The Roxy 2:14
9 G's Song 0:35
10 Fight War Not Wars 0:34
11 Women 1:14
12 Securicor 2:25
13 Sucks 1:44
14 You Pay 1:45
15 Angels 2:08
16 What A Shame 1:10
17 So What? 3:04
18 Well, Do They? 1:26

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UK 12" 1980 (Crass - 621984)
UK CD 2019 (Crass - 621984 CDR)
UK CD 2010 (Crass - CC01). Subtitled: The Crassicial Collection

1 Asylum 2:05
2 Do They Owe Us A Living? 1:24
3 End Result 2:04
4 They've Got A Bomb 3:48
5 Punk Is Dead 1:48
6 Reject Of Society 1:07
7 General Bacardi 1:01
8 Banned From The Roxy 2:14
9 G's Song 0:35
10 Fight War Not Wars 0:34
11 Women 1:14
12 Securicor 2:25
13 Sucks 1:44
14 You Pay 1:45
15 Angels 2:08
16 What A Shame 1:10
17 So What? 3:04
18 Well, Do They? 1:26

Bonus Tracks on The Crassicial Collection:

Ignorant & Rimbaud In Duo [Stormtrooper]
19 Do They Owe Us A Living? 5:43
20 Blackburn Rovers - Thread Track 0:57
Crass In Soho
21 Heartbeat Of The Mortuary 1:45
22 Do They Owe Us A Living? 2:17
23 Demolition 1:55
24 I Don't Like It 5:03
25 Pissedorf - Thread Track 1:05
Crass In Demo
26 End Result 2:48
27 G's Song 0:42
28 General Bacardi 1:08
29 Securicor 1:55
30 Angela Rippon 1:04
31 Major General Despair 1:20
32 Do They Owe Us A Living? 1:45
33 Punk Is Dead 4:34
34 Come To Southern Studios - Run Out Track 0:20

Chart Placings

UK Indie Hit: 6, 22 wks (Small Wonder)
UK Indie Hit: 11, 36 wks (Crass)

Credits

12"/2019 CD:

Steve Ignorant - lead vocals
Eve Libertine - vocals on asylum
Joy de Vivre - vocals on women
Phil Free - lead guitar, backing vocals
N.A. Palmer - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Pete Wright - bass; vocals on Securior, Sucks and You Pay
Penny Rimbaud - drums, radio
G - artwork

all material C P A Crass 1978
all songs written and produced by Crass
engineered by John Loder
recorded live at Southern Studios, London 29/10/78

Additional credit on 2019 CD (sticker):

Remastered by Alex Gordon at Abbey Road Studios, as close as possible to the sound of the original release. "as it was in the beginning"

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The Crassicial Collection:

1-18: Southern Studios 28th & 2th Octiber 1978
19-20: Dial House May 1977
21-25: Studio unknown 27th August 1977, with Steve Herman on guitar
26-34: Southern Studios 27th February 1978

John Loder - recording engineer

Remastered - November 2008
Remastering engineer – Harvey Birrell
Remastering production – Penny Rimbaud

Additional Credits

None yet

Reviews & Opinions

PUNKY GIBBON: A 12" EP which crams 18 songs into little over 30 minutes, this is an absolutely intimidating record. The guitars make screeching, atonal white noises, achieved by tuning all strings to the same note. The tunes - and there ARE tunes - are underpinned with military-style drumming and meaty, catchy bass lines. There are no gaps between songs, but 'They've Got A Bomb' features 15 dramatic seconds of total silence right after the first verse. Main vocalist Steve Ignorant insists on cramming far too many words into a line and struggles to get them all out, making his harsh Cockney ranting virtually unintelligible to anyone without a lyric sheet. He's a truly abysmal singer, but a great voice - totally fucking punk sounding. The other singer, Pete Wright, has an even worse voice - more nasally, equally pissed off. It's such an extreme record that it borders on art. The lyrics are stream of consciousness diatribes littered with four-letter-words, and many of the songs are now considered anarcho-punk classics. The disc originally ran into problems with the pressing plant, which refused to press the inordinately blasphemous 'Asylum' - Eve Libertine reciting Penny Rimbaud's poem accompanied only by drone/feedback guitar - which describes Christ as "the ultimate pornography". To get round this the disc was issued with two minutes of silence as a replacement (entitled 'The Sound Of Free Speech'), and a coupon to send off for a taped copy of the omitted track. Asylum was reinstated on the second pressing on Crass' own label.

Additional Notes

None yet

Images

UK 12" 1978 (Small Wonder - WEENY 2). Click here for more

UK 12" 1980 (Crass - 621984). Click here for more. Courtesy of Moonman Images

UK CD 2010 (Crass - CC01). The Crassical Collection. Click here for more

UK CD 2019 (Crass - 621984 CDR). Click here for more